The Pirate George Advent Calendar: Day One

This was an easy choice for me; the first song to even come to my head when I thought of the Advent Calendar conceit. It works for me for two reasons.

1. I am kind of a Mama’s Boy, and my Mama in particular used to sing to me “Lola”, by the Kinks, and “Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsley” by Wings. I can not remember if she sang this one to me or not, but it fits so neatly in the wheelhouse of my mom’s early lullaby repertoire that it fits right in. My entire family has been incredibly helpful during my convalescence, but my Mother own’s the plot in my heart the belongs to music. It has surprisingly tied us together as we grow older. Surprisingly and wonderfully.

2. I have mentioned before that I’m more a Rolling Stones man than Beatles; I listened to Abbey Road and The Magical Mystery Tour a ton growing up, but they never really pushed me, musically.

Is there a similar derision, if I asked people to pick either “Wonderful Christmastime” or “Happy Xmas(War Is Over)”? Because it’s an easy pick for me. I get the who-cares-goof-off-rock-out-ness of Wings. Maybe it just suits Paul McCartney better; maybe it was a release from the gravitas the Beatles dragged around.

I don’t know the real answer or reason. But if I am evaluating Christmas songs by the Pirate George ethos, on its internal and honest influence, this is the winner, hands down. Happy Christmas to all of you. Back to long-form self-important opinions of music at the top of the year. Thanks for reading. Spend the rest of the week knowing that net year is gonna be awesome.

We used to listen to a Christmas compilation at work that one of the guys had made and he accidentally put this song on it twice in a row. So we heard it a million times but nobody ever went back to change it or complained. Until I realized it was on there twice, I just thought it was a really long song. I still like it. The keyboard sound is amazing.